>>> from washington, the mclaughlin group, the american original. for over three decades, the sharpest minds, best sources, hardest talk. >> the mclaughlin group is brought to you in part by american petroleum institute. >>> on new years day, and during the first week of january, the u.s. economy will be hit by $600 billion of automatic tax increases. and automatic spending cuts. the phenomenon known as the fiscal cliff. if that happens, it will trigger a recession, or worse. so, president obama is taking action and insisting that republicans agree to increase the existing marginal tax rates on the wealthiest top 2% of u.s. taxpayers. and of course, there is more to the deal. but there will be no negotiations on that big part of the deal unless that tax on the wealthiest 2% is negotiated now. the president could not be more emphatic in stressing the indispensable element of surmounting the cliff is that super-rich revenue. >> we're not insisting on rates just out of spite. or out of any kind of partisan bickering. but rather because we need to raise